Liberal Arts Grads:

[Ardea]

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR DEGREE???

Please state if it was a Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate, etc... and how long it took you to get to where you are now.



Thank you.

 

[Clover]

Ah, I am just taking it for two years before moving onto something else. I didn't know you could actually do something with it. Am I doin' it wrong?

 

[A Schnitzel]

Am I doin' it wrong?

:yim_rolling_on_the_

There are so many jokes I could make about that.

 

[Works]

BA, BS, MAE.

Now I teach English. Took me five years.

That's probably not what you want to hear.

 

[Jack Flak]

I couldn't have imagined FemmeUrbane as anything other than a Liberal Arts student if you'd paid me, now that I think about it.

 

[Ardea]

I couldn't have imagined FemmeUrbane as anything other than a Liberal Arts student if you'd paid me, now that I think about it.

I fumbled around with the thought of Engineering, Math, and Geology... but I decided that law was my calling. And then I took the LSAT...

 

[creativeRhino]

Finished a Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy, Politics, sociology and economics) in 1979

entered the workforce the first time Graduates couldn't find work (ie Lawyers driving taxis etc). Did mundane work to save for travel for 3 years. Traveled with some work for 3 years. Never once thought degree was a waste of time - it helped me understand how the world worked so much better, and I'd developed some decent all round discipline.

Back home 7 years after first degree I did an analysis of various career paths I could take by doing a Grad Dip - corporate secretary (not a "PA"), Librarian, social worker, and Information Tech. I'd been doing computer things as a hobby (hey this was before Microsoft was more than a small organisation!) and decided it suited my temperament, financial aspirations (male dominated industries pay better!) and did a

Grad Dip in Computing. in 1988 I started work in the IT industry and worked my way up and up to management. Then I stopped full time a few years ago - now semi-retired and semi-consulting (consulting time is dropping as I lose interest...).

Personally I've found many of the people who take the "long path" to a career tend to be better (broader perspective from wider experience) and more committed.

I loved my time studying for my BA. What I learned, who I met and the ideas I was introduced to. I'm glad I wasn't more focused back then and picked a "vocational" degree.

 

[Ardea]

Finished a Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy, Politics, sociology and economics) in 1979

entered the workforce the first time Graduates couldn't find work (ie Lawyers driving taxis etc). Did mundane work to save for travel for 3 years. Traveled with some work for 3 years. Never once thought degree was a waste of time - it helped me understand how the world worked so much better, and I'd developed some decent all round discipline.

Back home 7 years after first degree I did an analysis of various career paths I could take by doing a Grad Dip - corporate secretary (not a "PA"), Librarian, social worker, and Information Tech. I'd been doing computer things as a hobby (hey this was before Microsoft was more than a small organisation!) and decided it suited my temperament, financial aspirations (male dominated industries pay better!) and did a

Grad Dip in Computing. in 1988 I started work in the IT industry and worked my way up and up to management. Then I stopped full time a few years ago - now semi-retired and semi-consulting (consulting time is dropping as I lose interest...).

Personally I've found many of the people who take the "long path" to a career tend to be better (broader perspective from wider experience) and more committed.

I loved my time studying for my BA. What I learned, who I met and the ideas I was introduced to. I'm glad I wasn't more focused back then and picked a "vocational" degree.

This is the sort of thing I wanted to avoid. But the way you pieced it together seems so... ideal...

Thank you.

 

[creativeRhino]

The Liberal Arts study is so good because if you pick a good broad mix of things (eg not all history etc) you learn how to "see" things in society - trends, risks (eg "history has shown") etc. The process of doing the degree hones this, as well as the individual subjects being relevant to varying extents.

The most unhappy people I encountered just after Uni were those who had done a degree that was vocational (teaching, law etc) and then found they really didn't like "it" (eg law grads who didn't like legal practice culture/pressure, teachers who found out they really didn't like kids etc).

So, unless you have a "strong" preference for a specific vocational thing, it could well be a bigger waste of time to "force" one. Eg "Oh, I'll do teaching because it leads to a job". They have to still do a "transition" or stay put and try to make the best of it.

The other way forward is to go out and try working in the areas you may be interested in (but with the economy the way it is that is not looking good!) or even volunteering to get the feel for something (hey, if you can do it for nix and enjoy it, it is probably a good sign...) You can get these experiences via in-term and summer holiday jobs/volunteering. I only worked this out after I left full time work and I wanted to explore all the things I thought I'd wanted to try over the years. I could have learned much earlier that certain work ideas Ihad were nice in theory, but not for me in practice much sooner rather than having an idealised view of them.

Do the liberal arts thing and always be on the lookout for trends in industries/societies that are new and meet a real need/niche (not a bubble - but heck I made heaps working during the IT bubble so as long a you know it is a bubble .... it is ok!). This means you will know a good opportunity when you see one.